Rostov-on-Don in the south of Russia is one of those places with a distinctive gymnastics history. Those who trained there include many trailblazers of new and interesting work.
The story began back in the 1960s when an ambitious coach, Vladislav Rotstorotski, moved to Rostov from Voronezh. In Voronezh, he had served his coaching apprenticeship with Yuri Shtuckman, another coach leader in Soviet gymnastics. Rotstorotski’s move to Rostov facilitated his training partnership with 1972 Olympic All Around champion, Liudmilla Tourischeva. Fast on her heels came beam genius Svetlana Grozdova, who competed at the 1976 Olympics. And behind Grozdova, a rapid succession of innovators, fighters and artists. Natalia Shaposhnikova, Natalia Yurchenko. Alla Shishova all came from Rotstorotski’s group, and all made their mark on the sport.
Rostov remains a special place for gymnastics. In 2000 Elena Produnova made her mark at the Sydney Olympics. Then, in 2020/1 Vladislava Urazova took home Olympic gold with her team. Training continues, and at this time of year there is an important regional competition taking place, demonstrating how the new generations continue to flourish and grow in this part of the country.
The Soviet press used to write about, photograph and film the early champions, Tourischeva, Shaposhnikova and Yurchenko in particular. They had a fascination and a pride of Rotstorotski, a Svengali like character who used to speak of dreams in which he imagined the daring skills his gymnasts would perfect, and compete.
In those days though there wasn’t a great supply of information about the gymnasts available in the English language. No internet, no email, no social media. The Soviet Union was rather a closed off society, news didn’t reach the English language papers, and gymnastics was always a rather niche interest, anyway.
So in September 1979, it was a remarkable treat to find a weekly news magazine, Now, who in their first ever issue published an article with photographs of Natalia Shaposhnikova. I remember seeing the magazine on the desk of a colleague but, in my first job as a junior, I never plucked up the courage to ask to see it.
And that was it. My salary didn’t stretch to the price of a magazine (50p). Now couldn’t make money, and folded within a year.
And I always held those pictures in my head. And now, thanks to EBay, I have managed to purchase a copy of one of my gymnastics’ holy grails.
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